Thursday, March 31, 2011

The Federal Census that you were viewing was the 1920 Census for Beckham Co, OK.

My Mom (your Aunt) was born on 12 Mar 1919. The Census was taken on 17 January 1920. It is interesting to note that on this day that this census was taken, my Mom was 10 months old. They list her on the next page all by herself, the rest of the family was on the preceding page. They have her age listed as "0." I guess it was easier to list '0' than 10/12 mos. I hope this didn't affect Mom for the rest of her life! I'd hate to be labeled ZERO... maybe I act like it, but I don't think it is good to be so labeled [grin].

Now, Nina on the other hand, was still inside Grandma Wright. Grandma would go into labor in exactly 10 days later and Nina was born on the 27th of January. (the Census was taken on the 17th).

Do you have any photos of Nina? Ima Jean and I only have 3-4. The best is this 1934ish photo

Aunt Jossie is seated (far left). I am guessing this is about 1934 because Alfred was born July 1933 so if he is one year old here, this would place this pic about 1934ish. Aunt Nina is standing and I am guessing she is 13 here. Mom is seated (on right) and she would be about 15. This would be about 4 years before Ima Jean was born.

Alfred was born in Ringold, McCurtain County, OK so maybe this is where this photo was taken?

Ima Jean told me that Nina died at the age of 16. She died in 1937 in Clovis, NM. So this picture would have been taken about three years before she died. I forget what Ima Jean told me what she died from. We will have get her to to give a short note on this matter.

Grandpa Wright died a year after this photo was taken. He died in Alburqueque, NM on Oct 2, 1935.

This seems to have been a tramatic time for the family. They lost Grandpa in '35 and then two years later Aunt Nina was taken in '37.

In the same year, Grandma had a baby grandson (unnamed) die. I wonder if it was caused by the stress of Aunt Jossie losing her dad, Grandpa?

Another child of Aunt Jossie, a 3 year old daughter named Wanetta died in 1944. I have heard both Ima Jean and Geneva speak of it. They say Wanetta fell into a fire. Geneva often talked about her little sister she barely knew. Geneva was six years old when her little sister died.

Grandpa Wright's brother died the same year this photo was taken (1934). Marcus ("Mark") Wright (b. 1865) died in Altus, OK. I guess he was 70. Then Grandpa Wright died the next year. Grandpa was 79 when he died. He was 30 years older than Grandma. Grandma was 49 when Grandpa died.

Uncle Frank died in 1937...So it was a hard time for Grandma and the remaining family.

Ima Jean says this one is Mom (left) and Nina (right). Mom looks to be about 12 and Nina about 10? I am guessing this would have been taken sometime about 1931 or 1932ish.

You and Uncle Frank probably have all of these photos. It would be nice if you could jot down what he said about each one. Surely he had a different slant on everything than what Ima Jean and I are guessing about it all.

From what I understand, Uncle Jesse was always the RICH relative that didn't want to be reminded of his okie roots. I have a brother like that. He even says that things were so bad when he was little, he doesn't want to be reminded how bad things really were.

Uncle Jesse left home early on. I guess he was gone by the time he was 16 or so. That would have placed him "gone" by 1923 or so.

The photo to the left, shows the remaining Wright family. I am guessing this is Aunt Jossie's and Uncle Clyde's car. It has a 1930 Arizona license plate. This appears to be Nina sitting on the left fender, with probably Emmanual next to her. Mom sits on the right fender with Grandpa Wright. Aunt Jossie is on the far rear (left) and Grandma Wright sits in the driver seat. Assuming this date is actually 1930, Nina would be 9 years old; Mom 11; Grandpa 74, Emmanual 13, and Jossie 24. My records show Aunt Jossie was married in 1922, but her first child, Alfred was not born until 1933... I wonder if this could be in error? Alfred was not born when this photo was taken.

It would be nice to know what photos Uncle Jesse left behind. Would love to have you scan everything and share them with us. Ima Jean and I are still Okies... even though I was born in Arizona and Ima Jean in New Mexico. I guess Mom's okie-ness rubbed off on us.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Burts are related to me, but not you... Since my Dad (Claude Davis) was not your father (as he was to me) then you are related only by the fact that you are my "half" sister. You and Margie should be friends anyway.

Margie Nejat and John Burt descend from Jacob Lakey and Phoebe Bales.

Jacob and Phoebe Bales were my Great-Great Grandparents.
They had 14 children... two them was my Great Grandmother, Rebecca Lakey (who married Levi Davis) and another daughter, Phoeby Lakey (who married Issac Van Dyke Wible) who was my Great-Great Aunt.

You can see the Wible line here:

In comparison, here is my LAKEY/DAVIS line:

I just read on the Internet that George Burt (husband of Dorothy Cook Burt) above, just died March 2011 so I guess it is permissible to record this genealogy via the Internet?

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Pat and I signed up for Ancestry.com Saturday. I got to do some research with some of the NEW FEATURES that Ancestry.com has added since I last was a member of this genealogy organization. One of the nice new features, is that Ancestry.com almost does your genealogy FOR YOU! And new “hints” seem to pop up all over the place.

One of the newest “finds” is on my Great-Grandmother Harriett Keener (aka Carlton). I have found her in Hardeman Co, TX in the 1900 Federal Census:

1900 Fed Census – Hardeman Co, TX

I seem to have discovered here, that Grandma Wright’s first name could have been “Tempy” and Chrissie appears to have been her middle name. I am unsure

Thinkbabynames.com states that Tempie was a common girls name in 1880-1890, but currently Tempie is a somewhat less popular first name for women (#3759 out of 4276).

Another thing I noted, is that Grandma Keener was married within a couple of years after she broke up with Jerry Carlton. I am not confident of the family story that Grandpa Carlton “was hung as a horse thief.” Instead, I have found him to be still alive and living in Oklahoma in 1900 BEFORE it became a state (in 1907.) He lived in Tillman County, (Indian Territory) and Grandma Tempy Chrissie Carlton was living with her Mom, Grandma Harriett Kenner was a few miles away, across the border in Hardeman County, Texas.

(See map to right)

As best as I can determine, there was a terrible family tragedy that caused Grandma Harriett to split from Grandpa Jerry Carlton.

The new Carlton family has been documented to have started at the wedding of Jerry and Harriett in 1855 in Eastland County, Texas. The 1900 Federal Census shows that Jerry and Harriett were together in 1886 at the birth of Grandma (Tempy) Chrissie Carlton. Grandma Chrissie was born in Texas. However the family seems to have left Texas just prior to 1889 and moved to the Indian Territories (now Oklahoma). There Uncle Lee was born. They seem to have lived in the Indian Territories for another year of so. And then a baby girl was born. Some sort of a calamity happened and the baby died. Family stories seem to tell that Grandpa Jerry was responsible for the death. The story has been told that he bashed the baby’s head in “on a wagon wheel.” And then again, there is the family story that Grandpa Jerry was “hung as a horse thief.” This does not appear to be true…because Grandpa Jerry was alive and well in 1910.

But it was this death of the baby girl (about 1890) that seem to end the family unit. Baby Jessie Nealy is born in 1893 so that supports the theory that Grandma Harriett and Grandpa Jerry broke up a short time before that. Grandma still is wearing the NEALY name in the 1900 Census so Nealy must have died sometime between 1893 and 1899. He is not present in the 1900 Federal Census.

The 1910 Census is one of the most comprehensive and shows the most of the family genealogy of Grandma Keener.

And then in 1920 we find Great-Grandma gone…and Grandma and Grandpa Crissie and William living in Beckham Co, OK.

If you notice, they are living next to Rachel Pickens…which is part of Ima Jean’s family. The Picken’s household was resident #334 and our Wright family was in resident #335.